Process #2 (Lapis Philosophorum)

NB:
This is a Lambda print on C-type photographic paper. All our prints come with a certificate signed by the artist and a unique edition number. The prints are produced with a white border around the photograph to allow for framing. We also have included some cotton gloves to protect the print during handling.

Victoria Jenkins is interested in faux science and in particular theories and practises that were once accepted within the scientific community but over time and with greater knowledge have been rejected as being mere trickery and magic.

In her series "Lapis Philosophorum", Victoria has turned her attention to Alchemy. Once a respected pursuit, and often thought to be the forerunner to chemistry, alchemy was the attempt to change base metals into a higher material, often lead into gold using the transforming properties of Lapis Philosophorum [the philosopher's stone].

Alchemical symbolism became popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries amongst philosophers and psychologists borrowing its theory of transformation for the study and development of the human psyche.

Carl Jung, the influential thinker and founder of the analytical school of psychology was greatly taken by the analogical nature of alchemy. Notorious for his exploration of the quirkier realms of human consciousness, producing papers on subjects such as telepathy and spiritualism, it was on alchemy that much of his work focused, producing enough writing on the subject to fill three volumes of his collected work.

Using the symbolism of alchemy, Jung proposed a process of inner transformation from which he developed his theory of individualisation; a process of internal development, of bringing forth the inner gold.

Basing her work on the visual expression of Jung's ideas, Victoria offers the experiments of the modern day alchemist and explains the process by which a higher state can be achieved.

"Through a chemical process the alchemist uses Nigredo, a blackened slump like state which is transmutated into a fine gold power, the Lapis Aetherius. In order to achieve this the alchemist must harness the power of Lapis Philosophurm [the philosopher's stone]. Following in the steps of Jung and ideas of personal development, the alchemist uses for his Lapis Philosophum, the shredded text from a selection of self help books.

These too promise, in their pseudo scientific way, to transform us from base human beings into higher mortals through the discovery of our hidden potential."